argentine forces

8/12/2019 Argentine Forces

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FEATURE

As the second largest nation onthe South American continent,Argentina occupies the

At lantic side of the geostrategic

choke point of Cape Horn, in con-junction with Chile. A past historyof isolationism and the perceptionof surrounding nations as poten-tial threats has, at least for theshort- to mid-term, been replaced byco-operative efforts with neighbour/partners over common interests

with an increasing emphasis oncombined operations.

The long established modus vivendi

between Brazil and Argentina, which

tacitly admits respective regional

spheres of influence, has reduced theprospect of another Argentine-Brazilian

conflict to remoteness and led to much

military co-operation of late.

Territorial disputes with Chile,which was the only Latin American

nation to side with Britain during the

Malvinas/Falklands conflict, over con-flicting claims to Patagonia almost led

to war in the early 1980s and were

resolved by the 1984 Treaty for Peace

and Friendship. To date all border dis-putes have been solved. As noted in

Janes World Armies, Bolivia and Peru,which share Argentinas suspicion of

Chile, have emerged as Buenos Airesnatural allies, although present diplo-

matic relations with Chile are relatively

cordial with both nations having recently

participated in combined exercises.Argentinas ill conceived, and politi-

cally motivated, attempt to recover (in

their view) the Falkland Islands (IsLas

Malvinas) in 1982 led to the War with

and subsequent defeat by Britain.

With the recent lifting of the 17 year

ban on travel to the Falklands byArgentine passport holders, diplomatic

relations with the UK have become

more friendly and sincere, with the lift-ing of the UKs arms embargo following

the signing of a Memorandum of

Understanding to work more closely

together by the respective DefenceSecretaries in December 1998.

In early November warships of the

Armada and Royal Navy exercised

together in the South Atlantic offArgentinas most southerly naval base

at Ushuaia to improve their ability to

carry out SAR operations, supported by

their respective air forces, for the firsttime since before the Malvinas/

Falklands conflict.

Unfortunately, while this thaw hasled to increased lines of communication

with the Islands, mistrust of Argentina

by the Islanders is widespread as claims

to sovereignty have not been dropped andintegration with continental Argentina

is incorporated in the Argentine consti-

tution and remains a fundamental

national aspiration. This has beenreflected in the Islanders continual

rejection of Christmas gifts presentedby the Argentine government each year.

A positive side effect of the unsuc-

cessful foray to the Falklands was the

resumption of Argentinas democratic

institutions and the end to years ofautocratic and authoritarian Military

rule. The role of the Military was rede-

fined and limited to national defence

against external threats, as the former

ARGENTINE FORCESPERSEVERE

by Mark Romanow

9VANGUARD Issue 5, 1999

Basic Facts: ARGENTINA

Total Area to come.

Terrain to come.Population to come.

Ethnic Groups to come

Religion to come

Languages to come.

Government to come

Capitals to come


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tasking against internal enemies was

often used to rationalize the frequentMilitary intervention in politics.

In an effort to boost the reputation

of the Argentinean forces, and increasetheir profile on the world stage, the cur-

rent civilian administration has made a

major commitment to UN sponsored

peacekeeping operations which has

seen some 13,000 personnel deployedabroad over the past 8 years in com-

bined operations with elements from

other nations. Presently Argentina has,like Canada, almost a Brigades worth of

forces deployed overseas on UN duties

with major contingents in Cyprus,Croatia, Kuwait and Military observers

in different regional conflicts world-

wide. Almost half a Battalion, including

a 150 man CIVPOL (Gendarmerie)Contingent, is deployed in Kosovo.

Spending on the Argentine Military

plummeted in the aftermath of theFalklands War and has resulted in dras-tic personnel reductions of 24% over

the last 17 years. Since 1988 the eco-

nomic recession severely impacted

upon the Military and resulted in dras-tic spending restrictions which has

hampered reform efforts and impacted

upon operational readiness. TheArgentine Army [Ejercito] has been par-

ticularly hard hit by these funding and

resultant personnel cuts with the num-

ber of enlisted personnel down by some42%. The overall size of the Army is 40%

smaller than the early 1980s, with the

number of Corps reduced from five to

three, and has seen its operational bud-

get decline by some 90% with its over-all budget down some 66%.

ARMY

Presently the Ejercito is about midway

through its Plan 2000 modernization

and rationalization initiatives to trans-form itself into a leaner more capable

force by 2010 and has settled into

groupings of three mobile defence

forces, based on the three remainingCorps, which cover the Northwest,

Northeast and Southern half of the

country. The aim is to provide a more

regionally dispersed and flexible, highlymobile force capable of force projection

and rapid response. It will be divided

into Regional Use Forces and mobileVariable Use Forces respectively

equipped with Heavy and Light equip-

ment, such as TAM variants and lightinfantry with helicopters. The rapiddeployment force is presently com-

prised of the 10th Mech. Bde and the

4th Airborne Bde, centrally located at

Santa Rosa and Cordoba, respectively.It presently has some 40 UH-1H/N mod-

els for tactical lift and would like to

acquire an additional 10 helicopters,ideally the UH-60 Black Hawk. A supple-

mentary constabulary force that is also

under Ejercito command is the National

Gendarmerie which is primarily

employed as a frontier guard.


CURRENT DEFENCE BUDGETUS$3.375 billion(US$1.2 million dedicated toretirement and pensions)

Current Force Levels:

Army 41,500 personnel

(includes 15,500 Privates)150 (Olifant Mk-1B) Tanks256 TAM medium Tanks281 AIFV and variants (TAM chasis)

25 VCA Self Propelled Artillery (TAM chasis)165 Light Tanks and Tank Destroyers

48 Armoured Car394 APCs: Tracked (314) and Wheeled (80)186 Towed Artillery

50 Multiple Rocket Launchers6 Roland SAM6 Light Attack Helicopters

65 Light Transport Helicopters

Army Field Formations

3 Corps: 2nd [NE], 3rd [NW], 5th [South]10 Brigades: Armour (2) and Infantry (8)

[1st and 2nd Armoured,][9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Mechanized][6th and 8th Mountain, 5th Mixed][4th Airborne]

12 Armoured (8) and Light Armoured (4) Bns28 Infantry Regiments

[1 Special Forces; 3 Airborne; 1 Jungle;7 Mountain and 16 Infantry Bns]

11 Artil lery Bns9 Anti-Aircraft Artillery Groups

Air Force:12,000 personnel

(plus 50,000 Reserves)

48 Fighter Aircraft (Mirage)36 Strike Aircraft (A-4AR Fightinghawk)25 Ground Attack Aircraft (Pucara)

3 Bombers (Canberra)19 Transport and Tanker (707 and Hercules)15 Scout and Light Attack Helicopters18 Light Transport Helicopters

2 Support Helicopters (Chinook)10 Air Defence Batteries

Navy: 15,000 personnel(includes 3,500 Marines)

3 Patrol Submarines13 Destroyers and Frigates

2 Fast Attack Craft? Tracked APC (LVTP7 AAV) Marines

12 Light Transport Helicopters Marines11 Maritime Patrol (P-3B Orion and Tracker)13 Large and Light Maritime Helicopters11 Naval Strike Fighters (Super Etendard)18 Light Attack Aircraft


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The most prolific piece of equip-

ment in service is the locally produced,

105mm gun equipped TAM (Tanque

Argentino Mediano) medium tank devel-oped by Thyssen Henschel in Germany

and is based to a large extent on the

chassis of the Marder Mechanized

Infantry Combat Vehicle. It operates inconjunction with a variety of ubiquitous

Infantry vehicles derived from the TAM

chassis such as the VCTP AIFV, VCTMmortar carrier and the VCPC command

vehicle. Together, they provide the

Ejercito with armoured vehicles well

suited to mixed operations as they allhave similar operating capabilities and

simplify spares requirements. The most

recent variant to enter service is the

VCA, which is a lengthened TAM chas-sis fitted with the turret of the Italian

Palmaria 155mm self-propelled how-itzer, with the VCRT ARV still only in

prototype form due to funding restric-tions. A further 120 TAM and 80 TAM

variants are also being completed, by

the recently reactivated TAMSE assem-bly line in Buenos Aries, for the Ejercito

as assembly was originally started for

export but had been halted when a

buyer could not be found.

AIR FORCE

The Air Force [Fuerza Aerea Argentina]

has a mixed, but capable, inventory of2nd generation aircraft, although many

of its aircraft are beginning to show

their age and will begin requiring

replacement within the next decade.The Fuerza Aerea is currently experi-

encing Severe Funding Difficulties which

have effectively grounded most front-line fighter and attack aircraft, and

severely curtailed operations by front-

line aircraft. The only aircraft believed

to be making regular sorties, as of July,are trainers at the Aviation school.

In 1994 the Fuerza Aerea began a

program to replace its few remaining A-

4B/C Skyhawks, which first entered ser-vice in 1965 and were finally retired in

December 1998, by 36 essentially new-build A-4AR Fightinghawks which havebeen rebuilt by Lockheed Martin from

surplus US stocks. In addition, long

term planning has led to 9 TA-4J/F

Skyhawks being acquired from surplusUS Navy stocks at the AMARC long-term

storage facility at Davis Monthan AFB in

Arizona, for the purposes of spares

recovery. Another 18 TA-4Js are being

aquired for the fighter school (Escuela

de Caza). The USAF offer of a surplus

KC-135 tanker is expected to be taken

up to support air-to-air refuelling needsfor the new Fightinghawk.

NAVY

Of the three services, the Argentine

Navy [Armada Republica Argentina] is

actually in the best shape with eleven ofits major units commissioned after the

Malvinas/Falklands conflict with an

average in service age of just 14.8 years.The Armada has been able to rational-

ize expenses and focus on operational

activities, with more days spent at sea,

by temporarily setting aside certaincapabilities such as carrier aviation and

heavy amphibious lift. Of Note, the

Armada acquired the 17,900-ton under-

way replenishment tanker Durance fromFrance in July, since renamed ARA

PATAGONIA, under a US$15 million con-

tract. Once it undergoes refit atArgentinas Puerto Belgrano shipyard it

will restore a valuable capability lost

when the fleet oiler ARA Punta Medanos

was prematurely disposed.



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By decommissioning, in 1997, the

unserviceable Veinticinco de Mayo air-craft carrier and the Cabo San Antonio

LST the Armada was able to fund the

completion of two Meko 140 classfrigates at the AFNE shipyard in Rio

Santiago some 14 years after each wasfirst launched, of which the first was

commissioned this February, but hadbeen incomplete and were due to be

scrapped. Crucial to the future of the

Armada is the lifting of the UKs arms

embargo which will allow spares to beacquired for both Type 42 class

destroyers, of which one has been a

non-operational spares hulk since 1996,and restore their Sea Dart systems to

operational status thus providing a

sorely needed area air-defence capabil-

ity to the fleet. Additionally, 6 longrange maritime patrol P-3B Orions have

been acquired to replace the former

carrier borne capability.

The Armada has its own MarineCorps with an operational strength of a

reinforced Brigade with a full range of

integral specialized supporting units

such as Field Artillery, Anti-aircraft,Logistics, Communications and

Amphibious Vehicles Bns, as well as an

Amphibious Engineer Company.Unfortunately, the only amphibious lift

available is now limited to four LCMs

and sixteen LCVPs which provide short

range coastal transport. There areMarine Security Companies at various

bases along Argentinas long coast and

the Naval Prefecture provides coast

guard support to the Armada. b

Mark Romanow is an IndependentDefence/Geopolitical Analystbased in Edmonton.


INTERVIEW WITHGENERAL ZABALA

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